


Reasons- Part 2

by CyberWolf_1013



Series: We Must Be Warriors [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Activism, Alternate Universe - Police, Alternate Universe - Real World, Angst and Drama, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bittersweet Ending, Breaking down, Consequences, Darkness, Emotions, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Hospitalization, Injustice, Inspired by Real Events, Major Character Injury, Pain, Permanent Injury, Police Brutality, be careful out there, take care of each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:26:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26430355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberWolf_1013/pseuds/CyberWolf_1013
Summary: Glimmer paced up and down the sidewalk outside the hospital. It was dark and chilly in the pre-dawn hours but she couldn't be in the waiting room anymore. Not with Catra silently raging in her corner and Adora staring out the window and anxiously biting her nails down to her fingertips. For her part Glimmer had sat away from the others and cried. She let out loud sobs and quiet whimpers and every tear she thought she had in her body.OR...Adora, Glimmer, and Catra are in the hospital waiting room after Bow encounters a police patrol in the neighborhood. What it means to look different in this day and age hits the group hard. This is the more hopeful ending to part 1's darker, open, ending. Because I just cant find it in myself to damn us all into unrelenting darkness- no matter the realism. If you want the 'unhappy' ending stick with part 1.
Series: We Must Be Warriors [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877209
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Reasons- Part 2

*The young man, Bow Woods, was stopped by police as a suspect matching the description of an armed robber that had attacked a diner earlier in the evening. He lived in the neighborhood and according to residents had a bright future ahead of him despite a troubled early life. Records show he has had prior interactions with police while attending Etheria High School.*

A small paper coffee cup bounced off the TV, brown liquid splashing the screen that was filled with Bow's graduation picture. "That's a bunch of crap from years ago! He was picked up for driving without a license and it was our stupid fault in the first place!" Catra ranted at the CNN anchor, pacing the small, uncomfortable room.

"Catra, the hospital is gonna make us leave if you keep trying to destroy the waiting room." Adora frowned at her girlfriend and she grabbed several napkins to clean up the spilled coffee. Luckily the airborne cup had been mostly empty. The blonde wasn't any less angry but they had been getting dirty looks from the head nurse ever since Catra cussed her out for not giving them information on Bow. Family only, they'd said. Adora didn't want to be forced out of the hospital before knowing if their friend had made it out of surgery.

Catra huffed and threw herself into one of the stiff chairs that lined the waiting area. "Yeah, well... They don't even try! They're supposed to be journalists." She gestured hostilely at the news report. The woman was now talking about what the police response was. *The officers involved are being investigated and been placed on leave.*

Throwing away the used napkins Adora sat next to Catra and took her hand. The brown haired woman bristled, looking ready to throw something else. "You know what that means, right?" She asked, anger dissolving the barest degree into weary frustration when Adora linked their hands together. "Those cops are getting a paid vacation while their buddies dig into Bow's life and come to the conclusion they did nothing wrong." Adora knew that. Like most of the country she and Catra had been watching the marches and protests. Each new video of police violence that was uncovered made her heart clench.

Adora slumped down in the chair, too exhausted to even speak, all the tension and worry she'd been carrying all night weighing on her shoulders. They'd all been distraught, especially Glimmer, through the whole night. Ever since news had filtered into the bar that there had been a shooting right down the street and cold dread filled all of them because Bow was never late.

"Why, Catra?" The question was so quiet that even though Adora was right next to her Catra hardly caught it. She slid her gaze from watching the elevator doors back to the girl on her arm. Blue-grey eyes stared holes into the ceiling as she spoke again. "What's the reasoning behind all... this? None of us are any different from each other and yet there's a canyon between us all."

Catra didn't know what to say. All she could do was clasp Adora's hand in hers, and nuzzle her head in the crook of the taller girl's neck. All they could do was wait in the too-white and too-sterile hospital room until Bow's dads got there and got them some answers.

xXx

Glimmer paced up and down the sidewalk outside the hospital. It was dark and chilly in the pre-dawn hours but she couldn't be in the waiting room anymore. Not with Catra silently raging in her corner and Adora staring out the window and anxiously biting her nails down to her fingertips. For her part Glimmer had sat away from the others and cried. She let out loud sobs and quiet whimpers and every tear she thought she had in her body.

At one point Adora had told her that she'd called Lance and George and that they'd be here by dawn and - God, Adora shouldn't have been the one to call! Glimmer almost crumpled in on herself. She felt like screaming, if she hadn't already screamed herself hoarse out in the parking lot.

All that was left was this endless jittery energy and nothing to do but pace. Back and forth in the dark. In front of the hospital. Waiting for her boyfriend's parents to arrive.

"What am I even gonna say to them?" She moaned, raking her hands through her short, purple, hair. She whirled on her heel and started back down the sidewalk for the umpteenth time. "Hi, I'm Glimmer. I've been dating your son for a year. Too bad we couldn't meet when he wasn't shot. Arrgh!" She wound up kicking a trash can that was bolted down. All it got her was a hurt toe and a strange look from some nurses out on a smoke break.

For the thousandth time that night Glimmer wondered how Bow could've gotten on the wrong side of the police. He was all heart, hated confrontation, and would give you the shirt off his back.

Glimmer stopped and plopped down on the cold metal bench outside the ER doors. She could feel herself shaking but not from the chill morning air. Truth be told she hadn't been paying a lot of attention to things over the course of the night. The police couldn't have had a reason to stop Bow. Then why?

As a kid Glimmer was taught that police were the good guys. They were there to help and they would protect you from the bad guys. To Protect and Serve, right? In her childhood memory she had admired the police woman who came to her elementary school to teach them about how brave and good police officers are. That blind admiration had been destroyed by the adult reality of the world.

She wasn't blind, not anymore. She saw the news and heard the stories. Glimmer asked him once, after they'd gone to one of the protests in the city park, and Bow spent the evening telling her about the things that were different for him. He told her about the talk his dads gave him when he was 10 on what to do if police ever stopped him: Always be obedient, never be loud or angry, always say sir and ma'am with respect, move carefully and slowly, always show your hands.

It made her so angry. It still did, the thought of Bow having to act submissive, and feel like he was beneath someone else. Just because of his skin color. What right did any of the police have to act like they're superior?

xXx

Catra, Adora, and Glimmer were huddled together in the waiting room. The three stood silently as the dawn sun slipped through the large glass windows. The TV had been slammed off by Adora when she saw Glimmer and two men, who could only be George and Lance, run out of the sliding doors of the elevator.

Three pairs of eyes were locked on the ICU ward where Bow's dads had bolted as soon as they stepped out on the floor. Glimmer had peeled off from them at the door to the waiting room and nearly collapsed into the arms of her friends. They both had wrapped themselves around her and they were supporting her as much as she was supporting them. Time had no meaning. The night had stretched into a year. Fifteen minuets was a lifetime. Still, they waited.

Twenty minutes after arrival. The trio was back to that nervous energy they'd been surviving on all night. Only this time they stayed within arms reach of each other. Ready with a comforting pat on the shoulder or whispered words of hopefulness between them.

Glimmer, who hadn't taken her eyes from the ward doors for more than a few seconds, was the first to recognize Lance walking towards them. Catra and Adora stood tense next to her.

The man looked somber as he approached. His eyes were tired and shot from the night of frantic worry, fear, and tears for his son. When Lance reached the girls he first placed a hand each on the shoulders of Catra and Adora and pulled all of them, with Glimmer sandwiched in-between, into a fierce and desperate hug. "Thank you," he choked out. "Thank you all for being here. For not leaving him." The girls ignored his raspy sob.

When he released them Glimmer's shaky voice asked the one question they had waited that twenty minuet lifetime to hear. "Is Bow, okay? Is he- Is he alive?"

Lance wiped his eyes and somehow managed to pull himself together enough to smile weakly at them. "Yes. He made it through the surgery but hasn't woken up yet. There was major damage done by the bullet and his recovery will be hard. The doctors think there is nerve damage that may be lasting but wont know until he's awake." Lance takes a deep breath, his voice shakes with emotion, and unshed tears. "My son is so strong and so are his friends. To have you supporting him means the world."

Catra is the first to shake herself out of the tear-fest the waiting room had turned into. She wanted to know about something else. "What about the cops that did this?!" She demanded. "They can't keep getting away with shooting people in the streets." Her mismatched eyes screamed out the injustice they'd all woken to.

Lance rubbed his moustache and visibly calmed himself before speaking. "My first and only priority is Bow. What he decides, I will support. Though, I think- I believe things will change. You young people are proof. No matter how hard the old ways struggle to remain, the youth will guide the future. You four and your generation will be the catalyst for a great change. I can see it."

The older man left the thought hanging in the air as he turned around to go back to his husband and son in the hospital room. All their lives had changed forever that night but maybe Lance was right. Maybe change was coming and they could help shape what that would look like.

**Author's Note:**

> I lost the first draft of this one and had to restart, so it's slightly different than what I first intentioned, but I couldn't fiddle with it anymore. Just have to settle for what it is now.


End file.
